By Dan Darrow

October 12, 2022

Intraday Update: QQQ, SPY, MA

It has ended up being a slower session as traders brace for the CPI release tomorrow morning, and the sideways action on the indices seems like the calm before the storm. With many stocks likely to see large gaps, it is important to only have as much risk on as you are comfortable with. The QQQ and SPY hedges are both slightly in-the-money right now and will remain open into tomorrow, with possible adjustments coming early depending on the action. There is one other position that needs adjusting this afternoon, though:

  • MA has slid back into the mid-280s, and is set up for a large swing on the CPI tomorrow and credit card metrics from JPM on Friday morning. A chunk of money has already been locked in when the bear portion of the strangle was rolled down, but the setup looks interesting for movement in either direction, so we are going to roll the bull portion down to something closer to the money. The Oct21 $325 - $335 call spread will be closed and a tight Oct21 $300 - $302.50 call spread will be opened for small extra debit. This will give the trade an opportunity to make money on a large move in either direction now. We will manage the short-term trade closely moving forward.

Open Positions

* The following Open Positions pertain to the Options In Play trade ideas from this and previous editions. Disclosure of the Trader Co-Author’s actual portfolio holdings, as of the date of each publication, is made below under "Trader Author Portfolio Holdings.".

Trader Author Portfolio Holdings

**As of the date and time of publication